42 thousand red-listed turtles taken per year

A new study has found that 42 countries or territories around the world permit the harvest of marine turtles –and estimates that more than 42,000 turtles are caught each year by these fisheries. The research, carriedout byBlue Ventures Conservationand staff at theUniversity of Exeter’s Centre for Ecology andConservation, is the first to comprehensively review the number of turtles currently taken within the law andassess how this compares to other global threats to the creatures.

While bycatch and illegal fishing currently present greater threats to marine turtles killing hundreds ofthousands of turtles each year, leading to all seven marine turtle species being listed on theIUCN Red ListofThreatened Species. The researchers estimating a minimum of 65,000 turtles taken from Mexico alone sincethe year 2000.

The researchers collated data for all seven species of marine turtles from over 500 publications and 150 in-country experts. They estimate that currently more than 42,000 marine turtles are caught each year legally, ofwhich over 80% are green turtles. Legal fisheries are concentrated in the wider Caribbean region, includingseveral of the UKs Overseas Territories, and the Indo-Pacific region, with Papua New Guinea, Nicaragua andAustralia together accounting for almost three quarters of the total.

The scale of global illegal capture is likely to be severely underreported due to the difficulties collectinginformation on such an activity. Conservation awareness at an international scale has led to greater protectionof marine turtles, with 178 countries now signed up to theConvention on International Trade in EndangeredSpecies of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) restricting the international trade of turtle products, however 42countries have no legislation in place that prohibits the harvest of marine turtles, although for many of thesecountries these harvests provide important sources of protein or income.